Mini Tool Must-Haves For Your Digital Media Toolbox
Here are a few "must have" digital media mini-tools (some are free):
Quicktime™ Pro $29.99
Of course, you may already have upgraded to QT Pro if you have purchased Final Cut Pro or other professional editing software. If not, you will need it.
In addition, you should consider installing several QuickTime™ components
MPEG-2 Playback Component $19.00
You won’t be able to view or import MPEG-2 without this. This includes including both multiplexed, or muxed, (where the audio and video tracks are interleaved into one track) and nonmultiplexed (a.k.a. elementary) streams.
WMV component $29 -$179
If you work with Windows Media files, you need Flip4Mac® WMV. They have a free player, but if you want to import, export and play Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac, you need to buy one of their upgrades. If you put video into PowerPoint you need this for sure.
Be aware, when you upgrade your QuickTime™
It may require reinstalling these components and some of your codecs won’t work. I personally hate upgrading QuickTime™ as it seems to create more problems & remove more stuff than they fix or add. I keep an older version active just in case. Just don’t upgrade QT in the middle of a project deadline!
iSkysoft iMedia Converter for Mac $49.00
iSkysoft Converter is an all-in-one converter that supports DVD ripping and video conversion. It lets you rip DVDs and convert videos directly for use with iPad, iPod, iPhone 4, Apple TV, or other devices. Easily convert DVDs and videos to almost any format of your choice, including WMV, AVI, MP4, MOV, FLV, etc.
For audio:
Amadeus (free) and Amadeus Pro $40.00
Amadeus Pro is a powerful multitrack audio editor supporting a variety of formats including MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Apple Lossless, AIFF, Wave and many others. They refer to it as “the Swiss army knife of sound editing”
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